


Single Rose, a Love Disease

by Paladin_Willa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, M/M, Multi, Sickness, it's not apparent! he does a few things that show it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 14:58:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8494339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paladin_Willa/pseuds/Paladin_Willa
Summary: There's a disease that many can get because of a love that's unrequited and it's called Single Rose. This disease is very deadly, so what do you do when you get? To Lance you try keeping everything normal, which isn't the best.But, Lance started coughing horrible. They didn’t stop and he doubled over as the coughing got worse. Hunk and Keith came in right then and rushed over to them.“I didn’t w-want to risk our friendship,” he muttered coughing more.“You idiot,” Keith muttered back gripping Lance closer to his body. “I love you,” he whispered right as the terrible cough started again and a terrifying amount of petals came out. “Please don’t leave,” Keith said, voicing rising. “Don’t leave me! I l-love you!” his voice cracked in the last sentence as an ambulance showed up and Lance’s coughing started to subside, frightening him, he clutched Lance closer to his chest as the spots in Lance’s vision merged together and he went unconscious.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first modern AU for Voltron! Please tell me what you think, especially since this is my first, intentioned angst fic. I don’t do angst, so I don’t really know if this is angsty, so ya, don’t be mad if it’s not.

There’s a fatal disease that happens when someone's in love, called the Single Rose. It comes when someone falls in love and doesn’t tell their crush they love them soon enough or if their love is unrequited. Some are lucky and can tell when the single roses in their lungs are beginning to grow all around inside and can take the pills to stop them from blooming until they can tell their crush so that the roses inside will die. But you can also just take the pills forever if you don’t want to risk them saying they don’t love you back. But there are some who aren’t lucky who don’t notice until it’s too late.

They notice because they start having these horrible, body wracking coughs that go on for minutes before they can breath right again. Once this happens, there are only two choices, tell your crush or get the surgery. Not many take the surgery since half the people who have surgeries forget their crush and a quarter of all the people who get the surgery become aromantic. The the majority can still love other people. Some are lucky and still remember their crush while others are lucky in the sense that if they spend enough time with their crush, doing things that made them love that person,  their feelings can return and they remember them again.

The only way to prevent this disease from happening in your lungs is to either prevent yourself from loving someone if you know they don’t think of you that way or telling them and they return the feelings. Most of the time, the opposite person will return the feelings but there are those few who would rather not saying anything for fear of ruining what they had with the person before they die or forget the person. So, this is not something to be taken lightly.

Lance looked around the table at his friends as they sat in a coffee shop talking about how their classes went at Altea University. Allura’s father runs the University and helped all her friends get in by helping with them if they had financial issues. They were in the Voltron Lion’s Cafe were her uncle Coran worked. He wasn’t really her uncle but he was like family to them all and he even said he’s ok with being called an uncle. Pidge and Hunk chatted animatedly about their Engineering and Technology class and their latest project for the class.

Allura and Shiro both talked about the Astronomy class they were taking and Keith talked about the Fencing classes he was taking since he was planning on joining the Olympic Fencing team and the Art classes since he really liked creating things with his hands. They all talked when it was their turn and Lance listened intently to each one, though, he tapped his hand since his medication was wearing off and he needed to move his hands, loving how his friends eyes shone when they talked about what they loved doing. He really liked it when Keith got excited, how his eyes seemed to light up and he would use his hands to help gesture and explain what he was saying. He loved how they’ve gotten close together over the year and were very close, best friends basically, with each other. The only person who was able to do that was Hunk and they’ve been friends for life, brothers to each other.

So, they’ve always told each other what the other was feeling and if they felt something was wrong. When it came to Lance to tell what happened in his class he gladly talked about his Marine Biology and Oceanography classes with joy. He loved the ocean since it reminded him of his family since they lived next to a beach and always had great times there with his big family. Lance knew of the Single Rose disease since both his older sister and Hunk had it and his oldest brother was getting his medical degree and was now a doctor, told him about it when his sister got it. Lance was able to tell them to tell their crushed how they feel and now his sister was happily married and Hunk was in a committed relationship with his crush Shay.

Lance didn’t ever think he’d get it since he thought of his friends like family. He felt that each of his close friends was a extended family member, though for some time he knew he had feelings for Keith but he squashed those feelings down, hard. Though, that feeling of love, somehow managed to show up at random times making Lance frantic to push those down since he was too scared to act on it and risk ruining his great friendship with Keith.

As the others continued to talk, Lance felt a funny feeling making its way up his throat and fear consumed him. His throat constricted, making whatever is that was making its way up to be stopped, stuck in one place that was even worse than it moving. The weird ticklish feeling grew more as he tried taking a breath without anyone noticing that he was having trouble. He reached out for his water, hoping to make the feeling go away. As the water tried going down it was stopped and he couldn’t breath. His lungs constricted, demanding air and pushed up.

Luck was with him for once since right then everyone started laughing at something so when he started coughing they thought it was because of laughing while trying to drink water. He covered his mouth, planning to catch any petals that planned to make an appearance. Shiro patted his back to help while Hunk rubbed his arm soothingly. “Ok, no jokes when you see someone drinking anything,” Hunk said and everyone nodded agreement. “You ok, buddy?”

Lance coughed for a little more, getting slightly more concerned looks and he gave a thumbs up. “Was taking a deep gulp of water when I started laughing. A good amount went down the wrong tube,” he explained bringing his hand down while making sure to swipe any spare petal from his jaw. He gave a smile and everyone calmed down. “I’m fine, seriously,” he said and they went back to the conversation they were having. Even though he knew a good amount about this Single Rose disease, he planned on looking it up on his brothers medical advice blog to make sure.

**XXX**

Lance looked away from the site in defeat. He knew for sure he was in stage two of it and only had two options, tell the one he loved the truth or take the surgery. He didn’t want to ruin his friendship with Keith by saying anything if he rejects Lance, but then he could take the surgery without much worry if he did forget his lover. The few people who did the surgery after being told that the love wasn’t returned, they forgot about the one that caused them so much pain.

_ But the thing was, _ Lance thought, _ everyone’s close, if he said his feelings then forgot about the one who he loved, that he was close to, that would strain their friendship with everyone _ . He didn’t know what to do. Both led to straining their friendship since the surgery did risk you forgetting the loved one. If he knew that Keith loved him back, he’s pour his heart out but since he didn’t know, he didn’t want to risk it. He decided to keep this to himself since he knew his friends and family alike would try telling him to do the surgery and only three knew for sure the risks involved in doing it since two had the disease but didn’t do the surgery and the other one was an actual doctor.

He wouldn’t tell anyone of this development until he figured out what to do. He’d suffer through the horrible coughing fits that are said to happen at least twice a day and at most ten times. He also knew that he didn’t have long, once in stage two, that meant that the thorns of the roses growing inside would grow, prickling against the lungs. That meant stage three would happen soon, the final stage were the roses finished growing and would puncture his lungs while the rose would go up his throat and suffocate him

He only had at most a month left before then and he decided that until he figured out what he’d do, he’d make sure everyone he’s close to knows that he loves them so much so that in case stage three rears its ugly head sooner than expected, everyone would at least know that he loved them with his whole heart. For the next two weeks he hangs out with his friends and family alike, making sure they knew he loved them and doing everything they loved. Whenever the horrible cough came he just said he might be getting sick or something like that.

Though his older sister, Lyla, his older brother, James, and Hunk all were suspicious since they knew about the Single Rose disease. Though whenever they tried asking he brushed them off saying he was just sick or something caught in his throat. Always making sure to get all the petals from his mouth and jaw off and clenching them in his fist until he could throw them away safely. As more time passed, the coughing got more intense and more frequent, often leaving him dizzy and disoriented, having to lean against someone or something.

Soon, Hunk, Lyla and James got together and managed to keep Lace in bed after a particularly bad coughing fit that had him swaying and almost passing out. “Lance, your not fine. Are you sure its not Single Rose?” Hunk asked him gently. He knew something was up and knew it had something to do with the disease. He’s seen a couple random rose petals either in Lance’s apartment or on his clothing. He just wanted Lance to tell him his suspicions are true and not have them forced out because James did tests.

“Maybe,” he whispered out, so quiet the the three siblings in all but blood almost missed it.

“Lance, are you saying you have Single Rose?” Lyla asked this time, eyes shining with unshed tears as she had a death grip on her brothers hand. Lance closed his eyes and gave a small nod, only to start coughing horribly. It was halfway through the third week, close to his end. Blood covered petals landed in front of him and the three looked at each other.

“Who?” James didn’t have to specify what he meant since they all know.

“K-k-keith,” he choked out, coughing again, more petals erupted and James looked down at his younger brother sadly.

“Why didn’t you tell him, us?” Hunk asked and Lance looked up at his ceiling.

“I-i didn’t want t-to ruin our friendship i-if  t-told him,” Lance explained without coughing gratefully. “E-everything would have c-changed if I h-h-had told him and h-he didn’t l-love me back,” he said coughing a bit through the second part.

“You didn’t want to risk our groups friendship from this?” he asked and Lance nodded while coughing more. Hunk and Lyla both looked over at James and he shook his head slightly, indicated that Lance didn’t have long if he didn’t do the surgery. “Why?”

“I understand,” James spoke and they looked at him. “If Keith didn’t love him back and he did the surgery, not many people remember their loved one after, the one that caused them that pain. Once he had surgery after learning his love was unrequited he most likely would have forgot and everyone would have been walking on glass afterwards, especially since a lot of people who forget, can’t ever remember that person again,” he explained and Hunk looked back at Lance who was nodding.

“That’s why, isn’t it?” he asked and Lance gave a shaky nod.

“You don’t have long, Lance. Please, just tell Keith and then do the surgery, if your lucky he’ll love you back and that’ll save you. You know if you tell him and he returns you love, the roses will wither and die, but you’d still need to be in a hospital since that does take a while,” James said and Lyla nodded.

“Please, I don’t want to lose you too, Mi dulce hermano,” she said and Lance looked over at her.

He gave her a shaky nod which set off more coughing that lasted for a long time, once it stopped he fell back down onto his pillow. “I will, Para ustedes,” he said.

“Hunk take him tomorrow to Keith. He needs his rest if you want him to make it to Keith and tell him,” James said and Hunk nodded.

“I’ll stay with him,” he replied and the two nodded before kissing their brothers forehead and leaving. Hunk stayed all through the night, making sure Lance had uninterrupted sleep and only taking small naps so that he wasn’t exhausted himself in the morning. Soon, the sun was rising into the sky and Hunk was sitting by Lance’s bedside with some soup he knew would ease Single Rose for a little while. He got the recipe from his mother who made it for him when he had Single Rose himself. She said it should allow him to move and talk without much problem for an hour or two before he should be resting again.

Soon Lance stirred and Hunk helped him up so that he leaned against his headboard with pillows supporting him up. Hunk handed the soup to Lance and he nodded thanks before slowly eating the healing soup. Soon it was all gone and Lance felt better, like it hasn’t been three weeks he’s had Single Rose, like he only just got it. But no matter Hunk still helped him so that he didn’t overexert himself doing anything.

Lance put on a clean shirt and pants before allowing Hunk to help him out of his apartment and to the Voltron Lion’s Cafe were Keith usually would be on a Thursday morning. They got into Hunk’s car and he drove him to the cafe and they drove in silence. Both knew that idle chatter wouldn’t help anything since what Lance would be doing is would be very serious. The ride took forty minutes since Hunk made sure to not go too fast. Usually it would take at most twenty-five minutes, but Hunk really didn’t want to accidently ruin what his mom's soup was doing for Lance.

He parked the car and helped Lance out since Lance started to sway a little, the soup losing its touch, and showing he didn’t have much time left. They entered the cafe and looked around, Keith wasn’t there and Hunk leaned Lance against the doorframe before heading over to the counter were Coran was. “Where’s Keith? It’s urgent we find him,” Hunk said and Coran tugged his mustache.

“I’m not fully sure. He’s usually here. He might be running late,” he responded and Hunk groaned. Of course, on the one day they needed Keith to be on time, he wasn’t. Lance moved away from the door and was leaning against the wall, looking horrible, like he got run over by a train five times.

As Hunk went over to him he started coughing and Hunk rushed over with Coran behind him. He reached Lance and patted his back and the coughing subsided slightly. Bloody rose petals covered Lance’s hands and the ground with blood trickling down his chin. “Now I know why its urgent Keith be here,” he said and Hunk nodded. Coran knew of Single Rose, for he’s seen a couple people come into the Cafe and cough up rose petals. He knew from what just happened that Lance was nearing stage three which happens so sudden and so quickly, that you don’t often make it to the hospital in time.

“I’ll be right back, bud. I’ll see if Keith is heading over here right now,” with that said, Hunk left the cafe to go scout out outside for Keith will Coran watched over Lance who sagged even more against the wall. The few customers there watched with apprehension for they heard of what’s happening and hoped he survived. Spots flickered across Lance’s vision as he waited for Hunk, but he knew they had to get going soon to the hospital if they wanted him to live.

He glanced out the window and saw the familiar red jacket and mullet. His heart sped up at the sight and he lurched from the wall. Coran caught him and looked at where Lance had looked. He immediately understood and steered him out to where Keith was being dragged slightly by Hunk. But, Lance started coughing horrible. They didn’t stop and he doubled over as the coughing got worse. Hunk and Keith came in right then and rushed over to them.

The patrons inside watched in horror as more blood came out. Only one was on the phone right then calling for an ambulance. Lance started falling to the ground only to be stopped by arms going around him. He looked up and saw that Keith had caught him. Keith then lowered him down and sat, with Lance leaning against him. “Why? W-why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly. Hunk had told him the details as he dragged him toward the Cafe.

“I didn’t w-want to risk our friendship,” he muttered coughing more.

“You idiot,” Keith muttered back gripping Lance closer to his body. “I love you,” he whispered right as the terrible cough started again and a terrifying amount of petals came out. “Please don’t leave,” Keith said, voicing rising. “Don’t leave me! I l-love you!” his voice cracked in the last sentence as an ambulance showed up and Lance’s coughing started to subside, frightening him, he clutched Lance closer to his chest as the spots in Lance’s vision merged together and he went unconscious to the sound of crying and a the few patrons there gasping.

**XXX**

Lance woke up in a hospital bed with an IV hooked to one hand and the other hand being gripped by someone. He turned his head to the side and saw that Keith was holding his hand in a death grip and had his head bent over the bed. The memories before he passed out rushed to him and he gasped and Keith shot up and they heard feet rushing toward them. “Lance!” Keith shouted leaning over and pulling Lance into a tight hug. Around him his other friends stood watching and his sister and brother were there too.

It seems James pulled some strings to be Lance’s doctor. “What happened?” lance asked, voice cracking slightly and Hunk handed him a glass of water.

“You started the last stage right as Keith told you how he felt. You were put into an ambulance and Keith went in it as I drove here in my car and called everyone once I arrived. And, well, looks like Keith said his feeling just in time since the rose that went into your throat went down. You didn’t do the surgery, but you will still need to stay here for observation as Single Rose goes away,” James explained and Lance nodded, gripping Keith’s hand back. “You gave us quite the scare, please don’t do that again,” he said and Lance gave him a small nod.

James then left the room and his friends surrounded him, all chattering about how he didn’t tell them and how worried they’ve been since he’s been out for apparently four days, which is unusual but granted what happened, James wasn’t worried. Most people don’t tell their feelings right as they enter stage three so he said that he as fine, just the roses going down slowly. A tube went down his head and went into his nostrils, providing him much needed air that he couldn’t get down really through his throat. But he was happy since he was with Keith, he didn’t do the surgery and is living and that everything will be fine.

He’ll get out of the hospital and go out on an actual date with Keith who stayed by his side all throughout his time in the hospital, happily helping him whenever he needed it. For Lance, life was good, and if he could go back in time and redo anything, he’d do the same things over again since he ended up being with Keith.

 

**Author's Note:**

> There it is! Man, while writing this, I teared up slightly, yesh, I’m a sucker. I hope you enjoyed this story! Also, spanish translations: Mi dulce hermano: my sweet brother and para ustedes: for you guys.


End file.
